Empire of Thessalonica

The Empire of Thessalonica was a short-lived Byzantine Greek state centered on Thessalonica from 1224 to 1246. It was founded when the Komnenodoukas dynasty of the Despotate of Epirus conquered the crusader Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1224, and it rivalled the Empire of Nicaea and the Second Bulgarian Empire as the strongest state in the region. The region sought to capture Constantinople from the Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire, but the crushing defeat at the hands of the Bulgarians in the 1230 Battle of Klokotnitsa reversed the empire's conquests. In 1242, the Emperors of Thessalonica were forced to renounce their imperial title and recognize the suzerainty of Nicaea.